Demonetisation: Bombay High Court dismisses plea alleging wrongful activities by RBI during currency exchange

The Bombay High Court last week dismissed a 2019 petition by a Mumbai resident seeking alleging wrongful activities by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in currency exchange during the 2016 demonetisation [Manoranjan Santosh Roy v. UOI & Ors.]..The plea was filed by one Manoranjan Roy, a tax volunteer who accused the RBI of failing to follow proper procedures and helping undeserving beneficiaries to get their unaccounted ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes exchanged during the demonetisation drive..Roy relied on information obtained through the Right to Information Act (RTI Act) and annual reports to claim that RBI engaged in a huge scam. He also filed a complaint with the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau in 2018..However, a division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and Sharmila Deshmukh observed that this complaint failed to disclose the commission of any offence or any irregularity or illegality as alleged by Roy. In view of this, no criminality could be fastened upon RBI which could attract even an inquiry, the Court said.“It cannot be disputed that the RBI plays an important role in shaping the economy of our country and the courts should refrain from delving into the monetary regulatory framework unless it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that there is a need for an investigation by an independent agency,” the Court added..The Court also observed that Roy had been persistently seeking an investigation into the statutory functioning of the RBI since 2015. However, his claims of irregularities were not supported by any independent financial expert, the bench found. “Neither the pleadings nor the complaint is supported by the report of an independent financial expert demonstrating that the discrepancies point out to the commission of an offence so as to entail a detailed inquiry or investigation,” the Court noted in its September 8 judgment..In the absence of such information, the High Court opined that the petition is nothing but a fishing enquiry and dismissed the same. “In our opinion, the present Petition is nothing but a fishing inquiry into what the Petitioner perceives to be a scam based on various figures set out in the annual reports as well as the information given under the RTI. In our view, reliance cannot be placed on half-baked information pleaded in the Petition and the complaint to direct an investigation into the statutory functioning of an institution like RBI,” the bench concluded..Advocates Shashikant Chaudhari, Pranot Pawar and Sachin Bandkar represented Roy. Advocate HS Venegaonkar appeared for the Central government, whereas Additional Public Prosecutor Mhatre, APP represented the Maharashtra government. .[Read Judgment]